UQM-MegaMod VS BrogueCE

This also was what stopped me from ever completing the game, even back in the 90s when it was still Star Control 2. I am not really a fan of games that force an arbitrary timer on the player, it feels like a holdover from the bad old days of coin-op arcade machines.

A while back I discovered a fork of Ur-Quan Masters which includes a time dilation feature that seems like it might make the game more fun to play, although I haven't tried it yet simply because I don't want to start playing and realize once again that I'm being punished for exploring and forced to start all over again: https://uqm-mods.sourceforge.net/

At least in Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mass Effect 2 when this same thing happens it's based on a trigger, so as long as you know the trigger you can go do the mission immediately. Alas in Star Control 2 the timer is counting from the beginning so the game leaves you little choice.

For a full comprehensive list of changes check out the changelog, or if you prefer it in web page form check out the main website: https://uqm-mods.sourceforge.net/Features

It's the MegaMod: https://github.com/JHGuitarFreak/UQM-MegaMod/releases

And if you're looking for a version with more updated graphics and too many extra options to mention there's The Ur-Quan Masters MegaMod.

You can get the .dmg from the Github releases page: https://github.com/Serosis/UQM-MegaMod/releases/tag/0.8.1-3

uqm-megamod (enhancement of "Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters")

Ur-Quan masters (http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php) runs on modern systems well plus it's free and even has a HD mod (https://github.com/Serosis/UQM-MegaMod/releases) - I'm not sure if it's good though, I played without it.

Ive played the uqm-megamod (a updated fork), it's probably the better option.

Recreated all the UI fonts (not the alien fonts) for HD, they can be found in this very repository in TTF and OTF format

For a long time, most traditional roguelikes were free (although there seem to be more on steam lately). I think Brogue is a good place to start; it isn't too complicated, it has some nice quality of life stuff, cooperates with a mouse, and its pretty for its genre.

I only play community edition, and my ascensions have been lightning, conjuration, teleport and some reaping combinations. My mastery was teleport with invis/reaping support. Multiplicity weapons are good (spear, rapier) but i tend to get ambitious and play hard for a mastery and screw it up.

Your best option is Brogue (community edition), in my opinion.

Brogue

Brogue is another good option if you're down with rogue-likes, can basically run on anything (& has an Android version).

Adding Brogue [1] to the list. Neat and very well balanced.

[1] https://github.com/tmewett/BrogueCE

Broge, Angband, C:DDA, Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, are some options.